Tuesday, January 20, 2015

A state representative in Pennsylvania is trying to ban human shaped shooting targets because they “perpetuate violence.”

Like many anti-gunners, Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland is under the delusion that defensive gun use doesn’t exist – despite the fact that it happens literally thousands of times a year. He believes that firearms should only be used for hunting.

That is why he is circulating a memo in the Pennsylvania legislature proposing that shooters should only be able to use animal shaped targets.

The memo reads: “Rather than perpetuate violence by continuing to allow individuals to practice their target shooting by shooting at human silhouette targets at shooting ranges, my legislation will prohibit the use of targets that depict human silhouettes at shooting ranges across the Commonwealth. Instead, silhouette targets could include, but are not limited to the following: white-tailed deer, black bear, wild turkey, and elk.”

Kirkland is a big gun control supporter, having sponsored a “Hoodies on the Hill” event in 2012 and staged a protest to support gun control on the statehouse floor last year.

Luckily, most Pennsylvanians aren’t buying into the idea that a piece of paper can cause violence. The local media conducted a poll shortly after Kirkland announced his proposal, and ninety three percent of respondents opposed Kirkland’s plan.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

A Papa John’s delivery driver in Georgia is afraid that she might lose her job after using a gun in self-defense during a robbery attempt.

The unnamed female driver was making a delivery in Dekalb County last Sunday when she was approached by two armed thugs who ordered her to the ground. While lying on the pavement, she pulled her defense weapon and shot one of the robbers in the face.

The suspect, Donquez Stephenson, survived the wound and was found soon after in a nearby yard. He is currently in jail facing charges of armed robbery. The second suspect is still at large.

“She had no other choice,” said DeKalb County Police Captain Stephen Fore. “She must have been in fear for her life and she reacted.”

Now the driver is afraid that she will lose her job, her mother told reporters. Papa John’s has a corporate policy prohibiting its employees from carrying while on the clock.

Policies like this are common among delivery companies, despite the fact that food delivery is one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. This is because companies would rather put their employees at risk than face a lawsuit if one of them is involved in a shooting.

These policies force delivery people to choose between risking their lives and risking their jobs. The driver in Georgia clearly made the right choice.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

The gun laws in the state of Maryland are so tyrannical that the attorneys general of twenty-one states recently led a legal effort to overturn them. As if that weren’t bad enough, it now appears that police in the state are exploiting these laws to target out-of-state gun owners for illegal searches.

The Washington Times recently reported the story of John Fillipedes, a Florida gun owner who was driving through the state in 2013 when he was pulled over for speeding. Instead of simply writing a ticket, officers of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police placed Fillipedes and his family in the back of the police cruiser while they searched his car from top to bottom.

“My wife’s hysterical, shaking and crying,” Mr. Filippidis told the Washington Times. “I don’t have a criminal record. I own a business. I’m a family man, and I tried to explain that to [the officer]. But he had a bad attitude, didn’t want to hear my story.”

And why were the police searching his car?

Because they were looking for his Florida-licensed handgun, which was locked away safely hundreds of miles from the scene. Maryland law does not recognize out-of-state gun permits.

To this day, Filippidis doesn’t know how the police knew about his gun or what gave them the legal right to search his car. Although the MDPA later issued an apology, an internal police review later found that the stop and search were lawful.

Another Florida gun owner also told the Times that Maryland police targeted him for an illegal search. John IV Tonneson says he was pulled over and searched for unknown reasons, by the same officer who searched harassed Filippides.

“There’s scanners in Maryland that scan every tag, and Florida is one of their target vehicles. They’ll find whatever reason they can to pull you over,” he said.

A local criminal defense lawyer told the Times that these kinds of searches happen all the time.

“You think that Maryland would honor legitimate people with guns rather than charging people who are legitimately carrying but doing it incorrectly,” said the lawyer, Paul Kramer.

“I would think that the police would want to take the time to go after those people who don’t have a legitimate right to have a gun rather than locking up people who have a valid license. An otherwise law-abiding citizen can get arrested here. It’s just a waste of officer time and resources. The police should let those people go.”